okay. got my new engine put back together and I'm going crazy over this timing issue. No matter what I do, the crankshaft gears comes out to be off by half a tooth. I've done numerous timing belt jobs and have never had this problem before. Anybody have this problem before and how did you get it correct? I'm going crazy here trying to figure this out. The head was resurfaced but I don't think it would cause this. I'm not sure how much was taken off but it was only supposed to be enough to clean it up.


setup:
ls block
itr head
skunk pro1 cams
skunk pro gears
gsr water pump
gsr timing belt

 

i had this exact same problem and i think it was because i had my tensioner on backwards check that>>>

 

tensioner is on the right way. I already checked that

 

Iv seen cars where the head was decked quite a bit and caused this issue. also timing belt tension will play a roll in how well they line up which you prob already knew.

 

start by putting stock gears back on i had same issue with pro series gears and they wer bad TRUST and they would not warranty them because i did not directly buy them from them gay huh

 

yeah, that's next on my list. I'll keep you guys posted

 

i never checked my cams before i degree'd them in. just a shot in the dark that might be what you need to do?? I know thats what you are supposed to do.

 

if the head has been surface you will be off by half a tooth

you be fine i ran 400whp with half a tooth off

 

agreed you will be fine. ive also run 400 hp off half a tooth.

honestly since you have adjustable gears, those settings would get changed anyway when u get the car on the dyno. just make sure you put a timing gun on the motor.

 

Take some photos and post them of what it looks like.

How do you install the timing belt? Go through the steps.
Also, you are timing it up with the crank cog and not the pulley, right?

BTW, guys... can I ask you how you can be 1/2 tooth off? How is that even ****ing possible? Minimum a timing belt can be off is 1 tooth. This isn't a K-series that you can have the gear tooth in between chain links. It's a B-series.

 

installed my belt like 10times and also jeff evans checked it. he said it was fine a few years ago since the head was resurfaced.

why couldnt you be off by half a tooth? the tension pulley takes up the slack not the cam gear

 

When they are completely in line, where does the mark on the cog for the crank (no... not the ignition timing TDC mark on the crank pulley) sit in relation to the oil pump's arrow? I'm sure if you lined those gears up and pulled the crank pulley off, you'd see that the mark is most likely dead on with arrow. The timing marks on the pulley can get skewed a bit simply just by how you look down at them and align your sight with the arrow or line on the cover.

Exactly. The tensioner takes the slack. Everything else is fixed. The belt is always tight from the crank to the exhaust cam, exhaust cam to the intake cam. That can ONLY be set one way. If the head has been taken down a substantial amount, sure, this will be affected slightly. The belt itself, though, cannot be off by half a tooth. Minimum is one tooth. And if there was enough material taken off of the head or block, then the gears will still be aligned. They operate independent of the crank. The alignment between the crank to the exhaust cam would be off, but not between the two cams.

And if you find that the head has been taken down and the timing doesn't line up, you should probably do something about correcting that (i.e. thicker headgasket, degree the cams and re-"0" the gear).

 

i found that if you have 10 teeth from the top tooth of each cam gear you'll be fine

 

Apparently, belts are suposed to "Float" on Hondas. they wont line up but every 50 revs or so. See:

 

I’m going through a similar battle with my car. Resurfaced head and now I’m 1/2 tooth off. I too am running larger cams, and if I want to keep running them, the true way to get it where you need them to be is to degree your cams. I’m going back to stock cams, but me not degreeing mine has caused some issues on the dyno.

 

I've found that a lot, if not all LSvtec setups are off by a tooth. It can also mean that the head or block has been decked many times, throwing it off.